Dogs trained to sniff out cancer.

January 12, 2006 3:55 PM

Dogs trained to sniff out cancer.In this study which will be published in the March 2006 issue of the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies published by SAGE Publications, researchers reveal scientific evidence that a dog's extraordinary scenting ability can distinguish people with both early and late stage lung and breast cancers from healthy controls. A BBC Four documentary will be aired soon in the US, an article and a clip from the documentary can be found here.
posted by Meredith (20 comments total)

Crazy. Hopefully people will be able to figure out what exactly the dogs are smelling, and come up with some cheap detector for it.
posted by delmoi at 4:05 PM on January 12, 2006

Related 60 Minutes piece from last year, along with a reprint of a 200 breast cancer article on the same subject.

See also: PDF formatted journal article from 2004, noting dogs' ability to detect signs of bladder cancer in humans, as well as the 2004 National Geographic article on Alabama and Florida-based university research.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:13 PM on January 12, 2006

"2000". Heh. Here's a 2003 SF Gate article on same.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:16 PM on January 12, 2006

"Hopefully people will be able to figure out what exactly the dogs are smelling, and come up with some cheap detector for it."

For all the costs involved in training them, dogs still strike me as a fairly inexpensive option.
posted by sindark at 4:18 PM on January 12, 2006

Wow. Seems like my atruistic pup has been testing all my houseguests for testicular/cervical cancer for years.

At least that's what I'll tell them.
posted by sourwookie at 4:43 PM on January 12, 2006

atruistic=altruistic
posted by sourwookie at 4:47 PM on January 12, 2006

Wow. Great links, Dalek. Interesting that there was so much anecdotal evidence beforehand.
posted by youarenothere at 5:13 PM on January 12, 2006

Oh, that is interesting. I worked in surgery for several years, and observed that different diseases have distinct smells. Cancers were the most apparent, outside of pancreatic nastiness. It makes sense to find ways to sniff them out; maybe it should have been an obvious conclusion.
posted by moira at 5:40 PM on January 12, 2006

So does this mean that physical exams of the future will involve disrobing and allowing a beagle to sniff one's body from head to toe? And if the dog goes crazy over the smell of my left testicle, does the doctor give him a treat?
posted by longsleeves at 6:04 PM on January 12, 2006

In this novel the doctor did it himself.
posted by tangerine at 6:15 PM on January 12, 2006

Do they get to eat the tumour afterwards? Or is it like pigs and truffles where they just give them some lame treat to keep them busy instead?
posted by Space Coyote at 6:16 PM on January 12, 2006

Another upcoming journal publication titled, "Is olfactory detection of human cancer by dogs based on major histocompatibility complex-dependent odour components? - A possible cure and a precocious diagnosis of cancer," is due to be published later this year though the full text is already available electronically.

The authors hypothesize that the dogs are detecting trace amounts of the volatile, organic HLA compounds that make up an individual's body odor. The production of these compounds are regulated by expression of MHC genes. In turn, changes in expression of these genes are associated with cancer and tumor transformation.
posted by junesix at 6:24 PM on January 12, 2006

Hmm...

So, this would be a lab test?

Perhaps they can combine this diagnostic with a cat scan...
posted by darkstar at 7:07 PM on January 12, 2006

The BBC Four documentary was excellent - it appeared to give a fairly balanced report of the research done to date without giving (false?) hope.

However, I did wonder if the charity Cancer Research UK had noticed a drop in donations following the programme - their representative, Dr Richad Sullivan, was arrogant and patronisingly dismissive of all the research done so far.
posted by ceri richard at 7:21 PM on January 12, 2006

Hopefully people will be able to figure out what exactly the dogs are smelling, and come up with some cheap detector for it.

Not too likely. Dogs can follow the scent of people in cars, and I don't think some cheap detector will be doing that anytime soon.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:44 PM on January 12, 2006

Dogs can sniff out so much. It's a shame they can't sniff out bullshit.
posted by troutfishing at 8:03 PM on January 12, 2006

this is bullshit, it would take unicorns
posted by suni at 11:54 PM on January 12, 2006

"Hopefully people will be able to figure out what exactly the dogs are smelling, and come up with some cheap detector for it."

For all the costs involved in training them, dogs still strike me as a fairly inexpensive option.

Perhaps that's true now, but if it were technologically and economically feasible, a machine that produced consistent results would be far more desireable than using dogs. There's too many variables involved in training dogs and interpreting their behaviour correctly.
posted by randomstriker at 6:03 AM on January 13, 2006

I wonder if this could possibly explain a bit of family history.

My favourite aunt died of cancer in 1983. She had a dog named Slate. Slate was primarily a guard dog, and was friendly to only two people - my aunt, and her husband, who had died in 1973. To everyone else he was nasty, and he had to be put down after my aunt became too ill to walk him.

The last time my aunt was well enough to take him for his walk, she noticed something odd. She had a two acre property with two ponds, and would let Slate off the leash once she got away from the house. Normally he'd go tearing off and race about the property, but on this final walk he would not leave her side. He knew, somehow.
posted by orange swan at 9:39 AM on January 13, 2006

Thanks, that was really interesting.
posted by madc0w at 2:53 PM on January 17, 2006